With My Angel By My Side
by Seshat Teirm
Summary: Anakin has been in the clutches of the Sith for two years. He has finally been rescued, but can he learn to live again?
1. Default Chapter

Pain. All he felt was pain, and fear, and anger. He couldn't   
feel his body any more. It was long gone. The demon had long since   
found other ways to hurt him, ways that caused far more pain than a   
broken bone ever could.  
  
These were the times he dreaded most, the times when he was   
allowed to rest, to recuperate. He hated these moments, because he  
knew that soon the demon would be back, and he would bring more pain,   
worse pain.  
  
The worst pain, worse even than the times of rest, was the   
deception. The demon would make him believe that he was free, that his   
angel had come for him. He was allowed to touch her, and to kiss her,   
and to watch as her eyes turned from the deep brown he knew so well to   
the lifeless orbs of whichever servant the demon had chosen to send  
that day.  
  
She would be there when he opened his eyes. He knew she would.   
He could already smell her perfume. That was something new. The demon  
was getting better, or more cruel. There really wasn't a difference  
between the two.  
  
She would be there, and she would smile at him. She would open  
her arms and gather him into a tight embrace. Slowly, ever so slowly  
she would kiss him and touch him and take him to heaven. And then she  
would be gone. In her place would be a broken old woman, or a young  
woman. Maybe it would be a child. Occasionally it would be a man.  
  
It made no difference to him. She was always gone, with a  
stranger in her place.  
  
This time would be bad. He could tell that already. The game   
had been stepped up. This was a level he had never been to before. He  
could smell her and feel her before he had even opened his eyes.  
  
And then he did open his eyes and the pain was intense. She was  
more beautiful than the demon had ever made her before. Her skin  
looked so soft and her lips were so red. He longed to reach up and  
touch them, but he didn't. He wasn't going to give in this time. He   
wasn't going to believe, not again.  
  
She touched him. He flinched at her soft caress of his face,  
his mangled and scarred face. She quickly drew her hand back. Her  
eyes filled with pain and her lower lip trembled ever so slightly.   
  
He glared at her. How dare this impostor pretend to be his  
angel? Who did she think she was? No one else could be his angel.  
There was only one and this thing was not she. It couldn't be her.  
She was lost to him forever.  
  
The impostor touched him again. Her soft hands trailed the  
scars on his face.  
  
He watched in amazement as her eyes filled with liquid.  
Droplets spilled over onto her cheeks as her fingers touched his  
lips.   
  
Fearful, he reached up one shaking, pale hand to brush at the  
tears streaming down her face. He spoke, voice shaking and hoarse   
from long hours of screaming and begging for mercy.  
  
"Angel?" 


	2. Home?

"Angel?"  
  
Padme sobbed in relief when he spoke. She had been so afraid  
when he had rejected her touch. She had been so afraid that she had   
finally found him again, only to be left with a shell of the man she  
loved.   
  
She threw her arms around him and lay her head on his chest.   
She could hear his heartbeat through the thin shirt he wore. It was  
weak and far too slow, but it was there.  
  
She stayed there for what seemed forever and not nearly long  
enough. His arms encircled her. They were thin and no where near as  
strong as the arms that had once held her, but they were his and for   
that she wept harder.  
  
  
He caressed her hair. It was longer than her remembered. His  
fingers tangled in the long tresses. His arms tightened around her. He  
lay unmoving as she sobbed into his chest.  
  
He stared up at the ceiling. He was in their bedroom. His eyes  
followed the familiar swirling pattern of the blue paint.  
  
Tears slipped out of his eyes and down his cheeks. Closing his  
eyes he drifted off into sleep, secure in the knowledge that he had  
his angel back, and this time she was real.  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Obi-Wan stood on a balcony overlooking the beautiful lake on   
whose banks the Naberrie family home sat. The setting sun sent fingers  
of pink and gold over the water creating one of Obi-Wan's favorite  
sights.  
  
He was not looking at the lake now. He didn't notice the  
beauty. All he saw was Anakin's broken body lying in a pool of blood  
and human waste. Blue eyes clouded by drugs and unseeing.  
  
Obi-Wan knew that that sight would never leave him. Every time  
he closed his eyes he saw it. He hadn't even slept since he'd found  
Anakin in the cold, dank room on Mandalore. He was too afraid.  
  
  
  
He was still standing on that balcony an hour later when Sabe   
came. She stood in the shadows watching him. His posture was not that  
of a powerful and sure Jedi Knight. No, he stood like a broken man  
who had lost something very dear to him.  
  
Which he nearly had, she thought, but now Anakin is back.  
  
Suddenly seeming to become aware of her presence Obi-Wan   
straightened and turned around. Sabe stepped out of the shadows and  
joined him at the edge of the balcony. He turned back around and they  
watched the night in silence.  
  
Finally, Sabe sighed in annoyance. The dumb Jedi is too   
stubborn for his own good. He won't even ask me about Anakin. Turning  
she studied his face. It was a very different face than the one she  
had first seen when Padme was still queen. He had grown out his hair  
and the braid was missing. His face was no longer clean shave. In fact  
it was exactly the opposite. Obi-Wan had been lax in trimming his   
beard since Anakin had disappeared. Maybe now that he's back he'll   
start trimming it again, Sabe thought, or even shave it all off.  
  
"He woke up." Obi-Wan straightened at the news. Sabe smiled  
and looked back out over the lake. She could feel Obi-Wan's eyes on   
her, burning with annoyance and impatience. She closed her eyes as a  
cool breeze washed over them both. Obi-Wan growled in annoyance. She  
struggled to hold in her laughter.  
  
"He hasn't said much. Padme refused to leave his side. They   
just keep staring at each other." Her voice lost the hint of laughter  
and her face became serious again. "He acts as though he thinks she'll  
disappear the moment he looks away." Obi-Wan looked at the moon. It  
was full.  
  
"We can't know what he's been through in the last two years."  
Sabe nodded and left Obi-Wan to his musing. She didn't hear the words  
he utered after she had gone.  
  
"And I'm not entirely sure I want to." 


	3. Dirty Princesses Sitting on Rocks

Padme watched happily as her children played. Leia had, as   
usual, taken charge. Luke was busy carrying building blocks to wherever  
Leia thought they should go. Lore, Sabe's daughter, was collecting   
flowers to be used to make crowns. Juriel, the son of one of the maids,  
was drawing as Leia directed him to. Leia herself was perched like a  
princess on a large flat rock.  
  
She sat like one, but she certainly didn't look like one. Her  
hair was already coming out of the simple braid the nanny had put it  
in and her blue dress had several large stains on it. Lore was nearly  
as messy as Leia, but she had a particular fixation with her hair. It  
wasn't allowed, under any circumstances, to be mussed.  
  
Luke cared nothing for his hair and so Padme wasn't surprised   
to find that it was covered in dirt and looked like it hadn't been  
brushed in days.   
  
Juriel looked perfect as always. He was very particular about  
the way he looked. If he spotted a single grass stain on his trousers  
then he would immediately change into a new outfit. Most adults found  
it very charming and amusing. Padme's father insisted there was  
something wrong with any boy that obsessed with cleanliness.  
  
"Luke, Leia, come here." The two toddlers immediately stumbled  
over to their mother. She kneeled on the ground and gathered them both  
in her arms. "Now there is someone very important that I want you two  
to meet, and you have to look extra nice. Can you two go let nanny   
clean you up?" Leia seemed to consider it for a moment while Luke  
became preoccupied with a piece of Padme's hair.   
  
"Yea." Leia nodded and wiggled out of her mother's arms.  
Grabbing Luke's hand she started dragging him to the house. Padme   
smiled at the sound of Luke's protests and Leia scolding him for being   
messy.   
  
  
  
  
  
  
Two very frustrating hours later Padme ushered her children  
into her bedroom. Motioning for them to be quiet she sat them on one  
of the couches. Then she went over to the bed.  
  
Anakin had heard them come in. He rolled over so that his back  
was facing Padme and the children. He didn't respond when Padme  
touched his shoulder.  
  
"Ani, Ani there are some people I want you to meet." Still he  
didn't respond. She sighed, frustration evident in her voice. "Please  
Ani. They've been waiting to meet you for so long. Won't you just look  
at them?" His eyes remained shut.  
  
Turning away in defeat Padme went back to the twins. She   
grasped their hands and began to lead them out of the room when Leia  
broke away.  
  
Speeding across the room Leia scrambled up onto the bed. Anakin  
watched dumbfounded as the little brown haired girl crawled upon and  
stuck her face up against hers. She squinted at him. Finally seeming  
to come to a conclusion about the strange man in her mother's bed she  
reached over and tugged on a piece of his hair.   
  
Bouncing off the bed she raced out of the room and down the   
hall, intent on getting back outside before somebody took her rock. 


	4. Holding Court

Leia crept through the halls of he home quietly. She couldn't   
afford to be seen. That would completely ruin everything. Her long  
nightgown trailed behind her. Nanny would probably want to know how  
it got so dirty in the morning, but Leia didn't care if nanny scolded   
her. What she was doing was important. She was finding out who the sad   
man was.  
  
Leia had seen him for the first time a month ago. He had been  
in mommy's bedroom. Leia remembered that mommy had wanted her and Luke  
to meet the sad man, but he wouldn't look at them. Leia had crawled up  
on the bed. She wanted to know who was making her mommy so sad.  
  
He'd been very pale. Leia didn't think he spent much time in  
the sun. Perhaps he was in space a lot, or maybe his planet didn't get  
much sun. His face had had lots of painful looking scars on it. There  
was one that had gone from his hair to his neck.  
  
His eyes had been pretty. They were blue, like Luke's. Leia   
liked his eyes, but they were sad. She wondered why the sad man was so  
sad. It couldn't be that he missed his mommy like Leia did whenever   
mommy went away. He was with Leia's mommy and Leia's mommy was the best  
mommy of all.  
  
Leia had seen him after that. No one except Luke knew, and Luke  
wouldn't tell, because if he did Leia would beat him up and he knew   
it. Luke was such a wimp.  
  
The sad man went out to the gardens at night. Leia watched him   
from her window sometimes, after nanny had gone to sleep. He liked to   
go to mommy's pond. Sometimes mommy or Uncle Ben would go out and stand  
with him, but they never stayed for long.  
  
Leia was going to stay though. She needed to. The sad man was  
sad and Leia didn't like that. She would make him happy and then they   
would play house. The sad man would be the daddy and mommy would be the  
mommy and Luke and Leia would be their children and they'd all go on   
fun adventures and nanny would be more fun and let Leia get her clothes  
dirty.  
  
Leia passed through the house with no problems. It wasn't until  
she came to the door that she began to have trouble. The controls for  
the door were to high up for her to reach. Frowning, Leia looked   
around. There, the little stool Grandpa always put his feet on.  
  
Grasping the legs of the stool Leia pulled. It didn't budge.   
Grunting, Leia pulled harder. It still didn't move. Letting go Leia  
plopped down on her but. Crossing her arms she glared at the stool.  
  
"Your bad." She whispered. "You gotta go over there so I can  
get outside. I ain't gonna tell nobody. I promise." The stool didn't  
speak but Leia knew it had said yes. Standing up she toddled around  
to the other side of the stool. She would push this time.  
  
Within moments the doors were open and Leia was on her way down  
the path to mommy's pond. Her bare feet against the stone path made   
little slapping sounds. She wished she'd put on her slippers, but there  
was no time now. If she went back then the sad man would be gone and   
she'd have to wait all day. Leia hated waiting.  
  
She slowed to a walk as she neared mommy's pond. Standing on  
her toes, she crept into the little clearing surrounded by trees. The   
sad man was there. He was standing beside the pond looking into it.  
Leia wondered what was so interesting about the pond that the sad man   
came every night. It had always seemed like just some water to her.  
  
Maybe it's got somethin' to do with it bein' nighttime, she  
thought to herself. I've never seen the pond then.   
  
Still on her toes Leia snuck up behind the sad man. When she   
was behind him she returned to standing normally. Rubbing a foot she  
made a face. Walking on your toes hurt.  
  
Looking up at the sad man quickly she grinned. He didn't know  
she was there.  
  
"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Leia let out a quick eep as the sad  
man turned around. Composing herself she gave him her best Luke did it  
face. He didn't seem to be buying it.  
  
Standing up straight Leia looked him in the eyes, although she  
didn't know why it was eyes, she could only look in one eye at a time,  
just like mommy did when Grandpa started talking about mommy getting  
remarried. Leia didn't know what remarried was, but if mommy didn't   
like it then neither did she.  
  
"Your bein' sad, and I don't like it so stop." Leia nodded  
fiercely to give her statement emphasis. She thought she saw a little  
bit of a smile on the sad man face. Good, she thought, he's listening.  
  
The sad man kneeled down so that they were at eye level. He   
reached out a gloved hand and cupped her chin.  
  
"I'm truly sorry Your Majesty. I assure you my sadness was  
completely unintentional. It shall not happen again." Leia smiled at  
the sad man. She still thought he sounded a little sad, but for now  
his promise would do.  
  
Grabbing his hand she began to lead him out of the small   
clearing. She chattered happily all the while.  
  
"My name's Leia and I'm not a princess or a queen or nothing   
so ya don't gotta call me Majsty, but ya can if ya wanna. I don't   
mind." She weaved her way through the interwoven paths of the garden.   
"We can go to my tree house for now. No one'll bother us. All the   
'dults are too big and Luke's 'fraid a heights. He's a big whinny baby,  
but he does what I tell 'im so I let 'im stay." Leia stopped at the  
base of a large tree. Looking up at it she realized her mistake.  
  
"Oops. Ya can't come up cause yer a 'dult and they can't fit."  
Suddenly she was struck with a brilliant idea. Spinning around she  
grinned at him. "Can ya shrink?" The sad man cocked an eyebrow. A  
small grin showed itself on is face.  
  
"I'm afraid I can't Leia," At this Leia's head dropped and she  
stamped the ground with her foot. "But I'm sure we can go some other  
place to play." Leia's face brightened and she smiled up at him.  
  
"Like where?" The sad man smiled and scooped her up in his   
arms.  
  
"There's a very pretty place by the lake. It's the perfect  
place for a princess to hold court." 


	5. Midnight Watch

Anakin watched Leia as she slept. She truly was a remarkable  
child with a strange imagination. They had been in the gardens nearly  
all night playing a game she claimed to have invented herself. It  
involved pretending to be the ruler of Naboo and telling Anakin  
exactly what she thought of every single sentient being she had ever   
met. For a little girl she had a lot of opinions.  
  
Like how she thought Luke was a whiny little baby with a bad  
right hook. And how she thought Obi-Wan was incredibly boring when he  
started doing that sitting thing and how he really needed to shave.  
And how she thought Padme was the most beautiful creature in the   
universe and she should be named Empress of the galaxy and sit around   
all day playing with Leia's hair.  
  
She was a charming girl. How he wished he could have been there  
when she was born. He'd already missed so much of her life. He'd never  
known two years could be such a long time.  
  
Brushing a strand of hair off of her face he smiled. Maybe he  
would overcome this darkness surrounding him. Maybe with his angel by  
his side.  
  
  
That's the end. I know I said this was gonna be great and it's only   
good but I got writtings block that seems to be exclusive to this   
story. 


End file.
